Following phase I studies of whole body hyperthermia alone in the treatment of metastatic cancer, selected patients with sarcomas or other solid tumors were begun on a protocol combining adriamycin administered at 41.5 C with two hours of hypethermia in excess of 41.5 C. Initial dosage was 10 mg/sq. m with escalation as subsequent patients entered the protocol. The incurrent administration of adriamycin (doxorubicin) and hyperthermia has not been fully evaluated yet for its tumoricidal potential, but there is evidence of acute synergistic toxicity in several patients. The combined use has been associated with conduction disturbances, arryhthmias and increased liberation of endogenous catecholamines. Clinical experience has shown conventional antiarrhythmia therapy to be effective. These results were first published by the Anesthesiology Section in JAMA 241:1816-1817, 1979.